We have finally arrived in France!!
After being frightened by such headines as “Nightmare Queues To Dover in Record Temperatures” yesterday, we made a late night bid to get as close to Dover as we could, leaving us parked in a random neighbourhood on a grass verge outside a Pub playing fantastic music that we were both too shagged to even bother crossing the road to listen to.
Turns out the queues were yesterday’s headline and today was another story leaving us early for the ferry. Luckily for us the ticket lady had lived in Whangaporoa and we were bumped up to an earlier crossing.
At 1 and 1/2 hours its not long before land comes into sight and we were quickly deposited in Europe. On the wrong side of the road!! No gentle introduction just BOOM.
The second issue was the phone had no internet connection despite saying “welcome to France and you are ready to go with no extra charges”.
No matter what I did NOTHING. Very frustrating not even being able to pull up a map. First lesson – download offline maps.
Despite a ban on McDonald’s in my life and stomach we relented for the promise of free internet. 1 chicken burger later only to be told their WIFI was down. Yes swear words happened.
To cut a long painful process short we have internet, we paid 2€ for water at our first water station and are on a free Aire found on my Camper Contact App, I have a chicken roasting in the oven and a cheap bottle of Portuguese Rose on ice.
Next issue – getting our gas bottle connected in France. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Downunder Wanderings 
Loving your blogs! We are originally from the UK so loving the descriptions of uk life! The first time I had ever seen gas bottles filled at the fuel station was in NZ! You may have to swap them in Europe. Mobile network is a pig in Europe. Does your uk provider not have a Europe package or deal? Roaming is expensive yet everywhere has cheaper rates than the uk! Funny that! Happy holidays 😀
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hi have a brilliant time in France, remember to go the ‘wrong way’ around traffic islands! Just a point, being originally from the UK and having travelled all over Europe with our caravan, be careful parking over in the Aires. Avoid the ones at service stations and lorry parks. Unfortunately there are some people who target ‘foreign’ rego vehicles and are not adverse to steal even if you are in the van. Cash, cards and passports keep out of easy access, ie not in a bag by your feet etc. Also you may know but you need a disposable breathalyser kit in the van. If stopped police will ask you to use it. Otherwise a fine will be dished out. They are available at supermarkets, just ask for a Alcooltest . Don’t want to be negative but even we didn’t know about this recent law when we were there last year.
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If heading for Spain the gas is much cheaper there 🙂
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We had English bottles which couldn’t be filled anywhere in Europe. We lasted hooking up mostly to power in campgrounds. You’ll need a French SIM card for your phone, then you’ll have to top it up every two weeks, that’s how we managed. Keep your credit card details off your New Zealand account as they will charge you for data used in France if you run out….the French charged my nz account so when I got my credit card re was charges for data which I didn’t even know I’d used. France is wonderful….we loved it. 😉
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Thankfully we bought a pack in UK which does work in France its just a complicated system to get working and no phone numbers to contact just a merry go round of sms numbers.We are going to find gas connecters and bottles today after a bit of a rest.
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Sorry to those that commented and somehow i deleted the comments. Just a malfunction in my typing. We loved everyones comments and hope they keep coming. Hopefully i can find them again.
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